Yes! Well, maybe. I certainly hope so!
UFC CEO Dana White is just a couple of days away from UFC 294, one of the best pay-per-view (PPV) cards of the year, topped by the lightweight championship rematch between reigning 155-pound kingpin Islam Makhachev and current featherweight titleholder Alex Volkanovski. Before that five-round do-over gets underway, former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman collides with undefeated middleweight phenom Khamzat Chimaev, with the winner earning the next shot at the 185-pound strap.
Even with a stacked UFC 294 lineup, the promotion will face stiff competition from ex-heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. “The Predator” competes for the first time since hastily parting ways with UFC earlier this year when he trades leather with reigning WBC boxing champion Tyson Fury on Oct. 28 in Riyadh. The odds would suggest their fight will not be competitive, but that may not be enough to deter curious combat sports fans.
So will UFC 294 prevail when it comes time to tally the PPV buys?
“I would certainly hope so,” White told reporters at the UFC 294 press conference (watch the video replay here). “Let’s be honest. Without smashing anybody here, these are the best fighters in the world in each weight class. That’s what you wanna see. You wanna see the best fight the best. These two right here, and these two right here, are the best. I would say yes, sir. But I’m pretty biased.”
Win or lose, Ngannou will make his PFL MMA debut just a few months after.
No disrespect to heavyweight rivals David Adeleye and Fabio Wardley, but the Fury-Ngannou PPV event is being promoted on the strength of its “anything can happen” narrative in the main event. I would suggest the advantage goes to UFC 294, which costs the same as the Fury-Ngannou card. That said, Tyson Fury is one of the bigger draws in boxing and may not need anything more than his name to move the needle.
We’ll find out before the end of the month.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 294 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 10 a.m. ET, followed by the UFC 294 PPV main card start time at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 294: “Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the complete UFC 294 fight card and PPV lineup click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
